Subscribe to this blog's feedA sister magazine to Utility Week, Truck & Driver, has launched a campaign to persuade lorry drivers and operators - and that includes utilities - to cut down on diesel spills from over-filled or badly sealed fuel tanks.
The statistics of 16 deaths and 3,000 serious accidents involving motorcyclists skidding on split diesel between 2000 and 2004 are bad enough, but a colleague of the great man knows the personal pain behind those statistics. When he was 17, he crashed his beloved Suzuki 185 on spilt diesel, breaking an ankle and removing large areas of skin from arms, legs and back (OK he was only wearing jeans and a T-shirt!). 
Worse, the resulting time away from studying (OK, that and a growing interest in bikes and beer!) may have been at least partially responsible for the miserable performance in his A-levels, which in a roundabout way led him 30 years later to be working on Utility Week rather than, say, being an astronaut, multi-millionare or brain surgeon.
Anyway, November's issue of the excellent Truck & Driver is offering 10 per cent off an anti-spill and anti-theft device that will make sure the diesel stays where it is meant to be - in the tank. Get your copy - in November.
